Topic Erica Kessel

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Erica Kessel

Part 1

A sweltering August day in San Francisco began with the shattering of glass as bricks and stones were thrown through the windows of the downtown Army recruitment center. The crowd had formed overnight after reports on the news that yet another fifteen thousand were going to be sent to the ends of the earth to kill and be killed in the name of Democracy; a term which had, over the past twenty years, been twisted from its original meaning. Having your vote counted was no longer a right given to all, but a privilege bought for a price that kept increasing each year, and now these affluent leaders had again decided to determine the fate of the common people. Parents whose children had been killed overseas, young men and women who had received their draft notices, or just people who saw the injustice that had taken over the world gathered on the streets to protest. The first gun shot was accompanied by screaming and panic. As the crowd tried to scatter, the police moved in to surround them. The directive from the government was that no dissenters should be allowed free, and as the jails and prisons quickly reached their capacity, the only solution left was to kill them. Many police officers had deserted in recent months, not willing to slaughter those who had committed only minor crimes. Some of these ex-cops were in the crowd and realized what was about to happen and what the only hope of survival was.

A man and a woman, both in their forties, ran through the crowd, looking for a way out. They had joined the crowd when it appeared to be a peaceful protest, and the violence started so suddenly there had been no time to get away. The man took the woman's hand and headed towards an opening near the side of the recruitment office building. In all the screaming and gunfire, no one would have noticed the two shots coming from the roof of a nearby building. The man collapsed onto the ground, his life draining out onto the pavement from the side of his head. The woman fell a second later, clutching her side and convulsing as her body reacted to the foreign object in her body. A third shot from the roof ended it, perhaps the only act of mercy that took place that morning. After the battle had ended, an officer approached the bodies of the couple, notepad in hand. Reaching down he removed a wallet from the man's pocket and flipped it open. After sliding the driver's license out, he jotted down a number on his notepad and removed a stack of bills, then tossed the wallet back onto the man's body. A photograph of a twelve year old girl fell out. This girl is Erica Kessel.

Twelve years old is old enough to understand political situations, especially when it involves the death of your parents. Erica had been raised in a home where corruption in the government, civil liberties, and contempt of those in power were commonly discussed topics. When her parents died, the police were too busy to bother notifying anyone. The names were taken for official documents, but for the friends and families of the dead, they had just gone "missing". Of course, they all suspected what had happened to them, but going to the police station to confirm it just meant being added to a watchlist of suspected dissenters. Erica knew where her parents had gone that night, and when they didn't return and she saw the news the next day, she knew what had happened. She was mad at the government, mad at the police, mad at authority, but she knew that there was nothing she could do. She continued going to school, as her parents often said that the power of words and the power of ideas were the most powerful things there are, and no one can take those things away from you.

Almost four years later, just after Erica's 16th birthday, the largest natural disaster in the history of human civilization occurred. If seen from a distance, the planet entering the tail of Wormwood would have resembled a shroud being drawn over the face of a corpse. Massive shards of ice rained down on the surface, and a large fragment hit Erica's neighborhood, destroying her house and school. Luckily, Erica was not there at the time. After a few days, the friction created by the ice screaming through the atmosphere raised the global temperature to the point at which most animals could not live on the surface anymore. No longer having a home or a school, Erica had started living in the subways with many others who had lost their homes, and were now joined by those moving underground to escape the torrid surface. Finally, darkness fell upon the entire planet as the air became saturated with ash and dust.

When light finally returned to the city after months of darkness, Erica and those that had sought refuge underground emerged to a ruined city. All over the country and the world, governments had crumbled in the blink of an eye leaving the people alone, without laws, to do as they please. Authors throughout history have written about the human condition, many asserting that at their most fundamental level humans are benevolent creatures. In the ruined San Francisco, the ultimate test of this theory was performed. Realizing that resources were now scarce, everyone went their own ways, killing each other to get what they needed to survive. Erica, who had always held contempt for government and authority, watched as the true nature of humanity revealed itself in all its horror in front of her eyes. It did not take long for Erica's ideas about the necessity of government and rule to change, be that a democracy or dictatorship. As the days went on, history seemed to be repeating itself from the beginning. The primitive beings began to realize there was strength in numbers and sharing of resources, and the chaos became more ordered as the fighting turned from every person for themselves to wars between groups. As more and more died, the population eventually reached a level that was sustainable by the meager resources left. Each group began to realize that they were able to provide for themselves without starving, and some semblance of order was finally established in the city.

The Vampire Coven in Los Angeles had been in power for a few decades, but in San Francisco humans were left alone for the most part. After Wormwood, though, more and more Vampires started to trickle into the city. Perhaps they were emerging due to the same resource problems the humans faced; or maybe they had come from Los Angeles, running from the enemies the Coven now found itself facing. Either way, their presence in the city began to grow. It was a day approaching the sixth anniversary of Wormwood when Erica woke up and realized she had died. She stepped out of the alley she had found herself in and recognized a part of town that she hardly ever visited. A quick glance at a newspaper meandering down the sidewalk in the evening breeze told her that she could not remember the past four days. She felt the fangs in her mouth, the stillness in her chest, and the chill of her skin and knew what she was. She stood on the sidewalk and looked up and down the street, contemplating what she would do now.

12/11/08 07:52

erinnic

this is cool not only cause it's well written, but also because it offers up a unique perspective to the actual apocalypse. sweet :)